Kung Fu Gecko’s Unofficial FAQ and Strategy Guide for
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by Kung Fu Gecko
(Garett Choy)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Introduction
a Preface
b Spoiler warning
c Background
d Disclaimer
e Copyright
f Where to get this FAQ
z Version history
2 Your Submarine
a Weapons
b Equipment
c Upgrades and Repairs
3 Economics
a Prospecting
b Trading
4 Political Factions
5 Missions
6 Tips, Tricks, and Cheats
a Cool things to do
b Cool things to see
c Cheats
1 INTRODUCTION
1a PREFACE
I wrote this FAQ because I enjoyed playing Sub Culture very much. I hope
you find this information useful. I’m not affiliated in any way with
either Criterion Studios or Ubisoft. Sub Culture is a very fun, well done
game. Although it may be too absent of tough combat gameplay to appeal to
the macho masses, it can appeal to those looking for action/simulations
with a variety of missions. The tasks of each mission varies greatly and
you will use your sub and its equipment in ways you wouldn’t immediately
think of. Graphics are incredible, especially with a 3dfx card, and the
sound and music add to the environment nicely. You will probably find
yourself just exploring around enjoying the ocean and its aquatic sea life.
Note: To experience the most enjoyment (and as many missions as possible),
take missions from both Procha and Bohine factions. Don’t worry about
allegiances, because even if they say they hate you, they’ll still hire you
to do work they need to get done. There really isn’t much consequence from
the factions hating you for working with the other side. The game will
seem rather short if you stick to one side.
1b SPOILER WARNING
This FAQ contains information and tips which may spoil your experience and
enjoyment of the game Sub Culture since it reveals information before you
experience it for yourself. I recommend that you only use this if you’ve
played it to completion by yourself, or you are stuck and need some hints
to move forward.
1c BACKGROUND
The world of Sub Culture is in the ocean of the planet Earth, where tiny
human-like beings live in underwater cities and travel by submarine. You
are Bubba Kosh, one of those centimeter tall humans. The opening video
reveals that Bubba Kosh was forced out of his home by the unfortunate
incident of a tin can (from the big people above) crushing his home on the
ocean floor. Bubba survived because he was out in his sub prospecting for
thorium. With his home crushed and only his sub, Bubba becomes a
prospector and freelance mercenary.
1d DISCLAIMER
This document is meant for unofficial informational purposes only, and is
not for profit. It is not endorsed by Criterion Studios or Ubisoft.
Company names, logos and product names are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective holders.
1e COPYRIGHT
This document is copyright Jan 1998, Garett Choy. Permission is granted to
reproduce, provided it remains whole and intact. No modifications,
deletions, or additions may be made without the expressed written
permission of the author.
If you would like to comment or make suggestions about this FAQ, you can
email me at: [email protected]
1z VERSION HISTORY
v1.0 First published draft of this FAQ.
v1.0b Removed quotation from Ubisoft’s website to
make this FAQ completely original.
v1.1 Added section 1f, "Where to get this FAQ".
Included location information of Pearls and
Oysters (Thanks to Scott Hagie)
General editing
v1.1b Added bubble gun to equipment section
v1.1c Updated contact email address
2 YOUR SUBMARINE - the mighty yellow submarine
Your submarine is a little yellow vehicle, and it’s the only one you can
drive in the entire game. It looks almost as if the designer was thinking
about a cartoonish, round blowfish. But as cute as it may be, you find
that it can do a lot. It will do everything from rescue disabled subs,
haul debris of various types, and hold its own when fighting hostile subs.
It has a semitransparent bubble shaped view glass which you can barely make
out the lit control panels inside the sub. It has three propeller jets; 2
on the side, and one in the back. The one in the back isn’t nearly as
powerful as you would think and it can only be used for forward or
backwards propulsion. The two side jets are surprisingly strong and are
used to ascend and descend, or to aid in forward propulsion. There is a
tendency for the sub to move forwards slightly when you ascend or descend
since the side jets must rotate from their forward orientation to the up or
down orientation.
Top Speed - This refers to the fastest speed your unhindered sub can go.
This is pretty much useless information because it’s always 100. The
whoosh drive will temporarily increase your speed to 166.
Hull Strength - You start at 100, and with Hull Strength applications
(bought at cities) you can increase this by 20 for each applied hull
strengthener. Although expensive, this is entirely worth the money. It
effectively stretches the life of your shields by the value ratio of your
hull strength over 100. Try it, you’ll see how much more pounding you can
take with it.
Shield Level - This shows your current shield level. You max out at 100.
You should seriously consider applying a shield repair when your shield
level drops below 30 or you are about to take on a dangerous mission.
Radiation level - This shows how much radiation resistance your ship has
when exposed to radiation. The higher the value, the slower your ship
takes damage when in the presence of radiation. A Geiger counter is
included with your sub, and when it blinks with the yellow radiation
symbol, you are being exposed to dangerous (and damaging) levels of
radiation.
Mounts - There are ten mounting positions on your submarine where you can
mount your equipment and weapons. Each mounting position can only contain
one item at a time, and items are restricted their appropriate mounting
point. The following list describes the position of the mount on your sub
and what items can be mounted there.
Mount 1 : front [mini zapper, zapper upgrade]
Mount 2 : forward center, above glass dome [deep sea light]
Mount 3 : center, underside [suck-o-matic, magnet, grappling hook, escape
pod]
Mount 4 : right side [missile launcher, ripper]
Mount 5 : top, sides of mast [repellertron, attractatron, whoosh drive,
electro bolt]
Mount 6 : left side [big ears]
Mount 7 : rear center, underside [ROV, depth charge launcher]
Mount 8 : top, front of mast [FLR-1000, FLR-1500, strobe]
Mount 9 : rear top center [bubble gun]
Mount 10: none
2a WEAPONS - keeping the peace
There are hostile people in this underwater world and you’ll need weapons
to defend yourself from them, or to terrorize innocents yourself. Each
weapon will only attach to one mount location. Because of this, during a
mission you will only be able to switch to one weapon of each mounting
type. (I.E. You can not have both missiles and the ripper weapon available
during a mission because they both use the same mount location.) Weapons
cost money to buy, and several cost money to use (to pay for the
ammunition). You will need to consider this economic factor when choosing
which weapons to use. If you want to be economical, use your zapper most
of the time. Or, you can splurge with fun weapons like homing missiles and
the ripper gun, so long as your income can support your habit.
Not all weapons will be available at the beginning of the game, but as the
game progresses they will be made available. Prices will vary from city to
city so if you want the best deal, check around for pricing. As the story
progresses prices seem to increase. So if you see a weapon you want (or
anticipate needed) and you have the money, buy it.
Mini Zapper - This is your starting weapon and it’s quite weak. It has
terribly short range, but at least it has unlimited use; you don’t have to
ever buy ammo for it. The minizapper will have a tendency to "lock on" to
the victim provided you can keep the victim in front of you. This is an
excellent weapon for when you are tailing a hostile sub. A word of caution
though: because of its short range, do not use this weapon to destroy
mines; you will be caught in the blast radius when the mine is destroyed
and you will take some damage.
Zapper Upgrade - The zapper upgrade is exactly that: an improved version of
the minizapper. If you have the money, you should get this weapon as soon
as it’s available. If you don’t have the money, then get the money and buy
this weapon. It’s the most useful weapon in the game. Like the
minizapper, it requires no money be spent on ammo. Unlike the minizapper,
it has twice the range (now you can safely blow up mines) and does twice
the damage.
Torpedo - Sold in packs of 16, this weapon requires that you have a torpedo
launcher mounted on your ship. They are unguided, but fast. About three
direct torpedo hits is what it takes to destroy a Procha/Bohine sub.
Because they are unguided, you’ll have to learn to lead your target in
order to score a hit.
Homers - This is the guided version of the torpedo. They will
indiscriminately lock onto the nearest target in range. Homers are sold in
packs of 4, and require a missile launcher. Because they use the same
torpedo launcher, homers and standard torpedoes can both be available
during missions.
Ripper - This is the mini-gatling gun of Sub Culture. It fires 12 rounds
per second and hits instantly. The range is very good, and it makes a cool
mini-gun sound as you tear into your victim. Explosive clouds bleed out of
your victim as your score hits with this mean weapon. The only down side
is it’s cost of operation; it guzzles ammo, and ripper ammo isn’t cheap.
Electro Bolt - I call this the "ball of electric death". This weapon takes
a couple seconds to create the energy projectile when you fire it. It
shoots a ball of electricity which causes a devastating amount of damage to
any victim it hits. It also damages the unfortunate victims caught in the
vicinity of its impact by emitting incident streams of electricity. This
weapon is excellent for demolishing slow targets like walkers and tight
packs of hostile subs. It has unlimited use, but after firing the ammo
counter display goes to zero and charges up to 99. You have to wait till
it’s fully charged before firing it again.
Depth Charge - The manual must have been printed before the game was
finished. These aren’t the "barrel charges" the picture in the manual
suggests, these are stream-lined drop bomb weapons. Regardless, these are
for killing things below you. Relative to your zapper, missiles, and
ripper gun, the depth charges are not very effective in dogfighting.
However, these weapons are necessary for completing certain missions where
you must drop an explosive device into some type of hole. You will need a
charge launcher to use this weapon.
2b EQUIPMENT - tools of the trade
Bubble Gun - This device mounts on the top rear spine of your sub and emits
bubbles when activated. It seems to be pretty useless since it doesn't
emit that many bubbles or affect anyone around you. The manual alludes to
this being some kind of camouflage or distraction device, but I've yet to
see it.
Deep-Sea Lights - Your sub comes standard with these headlights. These
lights, aimed at a 45 degree angle down in front of you are used to
illuminate your path when it gets too dark to see (at night or in a cave).
They may be left on indefinitely, but if you leave them on in day light
you’ll miss the dancing shadows on the ocean floor from the sun light as it
gets refracted by the ocean surface.
Big Ears - This launcher contains only 5 eavesdropping devices which can be
shot from your sub to attach to the target. Once a successful attachment
is made, the eavesdropping device broadcasts radio communication to and
from the target back to you so you can hear what’s going on.
Escape Pod - Contrary to what your intuition is telling you, the escape pod
is not for you to escape in, but rather for you to help others move from
(and to) other vehicles to (and from) your sub. This mounts under the sub.
Strobe - This literally is a strobe. I have yet to discover its use.
You’ll get a headache if you use it as your only light source. The manual
says it "hypnotizes" some species, but I never encountered it.
ROV - This cool, cute little remote-controlled robot sub attaches under
your sub. You can use it to squeeze into tight places your sub won’t fit
in, reconnaissance areas your sub would draw unwanted attention, and to
operate equipment when you can’t be there. Don’t let it go too far away
from you though. It has limited range; static on the viewscreen will let
you know you are getting out of range. If the ROV goes out of range you
will lose contact with it forever and you will have to buy another one. To
dock the ROV, drive it near the underside of your sub or drive your sub
above the ROV. When the computer asks if you want to dock the ROV, say
(y)es. It will take a few moments, so wait for the ROV to dock (you will
automatically regain control of your sub when the docking completes). From
the external view, you can see your little ROV hugging the underside of
your sub when it’s docked. The ROV has no vertical or reverse thrusters.
Suck-O-Matic - This vacuum like tool mounts under your sub and is used to
collect Thorium shards and pearls from open oysters. It can hold a maximum
of 5 objects at a time. This is mounted on your sub when the game begins.
No, you can’t use it to suck up blown up fish chunks. I wish, too.
Magnet - This magnet mounts under your sub and is used to collect metal
object such as copper coins and bottle caps. This tool is also use to tow
downed subs or other metal objects. Buy this as soon as you can.
Grappling Hook - The hook mounts under your sub and is used to grab whole
thorium crystals and cigarette butts. It’s not used for anything but
making money, so you might want to buy the magnet first.
Missile Launcher - This item mounts right side of the sub. It is necessary
if you want to use torpedoes or homing torpedoes.
Charge Launcher - This item mounts on the left side of the sub and is
required for use of depth charges.
Whoosh Drive - This drive system will give your sub a turbo boost of speed.
It is mounted in the back of your sub. When activated, your sub will
travel at a top speed of 166 compared to the normal 100. It has limited
use however as it only contains about 99 seconds of usage. Used sparingly
and only when needed, one whoosh drive will last the entire storyline.
This is excellent for outrunning hostile subs, giving you more speed when
towing a large object, when you just need as much speed as you can get, or
when you are too impatient to travel at "regular" speeds.
Flares - These come in two varieties: the FLR-1000 and the FLR-1500. Both
have an unlimited supply of phosphorus flares which can be shot from your
sub to illuminate wherever the flares come to rest. The FLR-1500 flares
lasts longer than the FLR-1000 flares.
Repellertron/Attractatron - These devices are mounted on the back of your
sub and either serve to repel sea life (such as hostile sea life) or
attract sea life (for fishing). They have unlimited usage.
2c UPGRADES AND REPAIRS - fixes to life’s troubles
Shield Repair - I have no idea what this would be in real life, but you can
buy these and store them up in your hold for future use. Every time you
use one (select it and click on the picture of your sub in the trade
screen) it will bring you shield level back to 100. Therefore, it is most
economical to only use this when your shields are very low. However, it’s
generally good practice to repair your shields just before your mission,
especially hostile ones. I guess it should have been called "hull repair."
Hull Strength - These are expensive (best deals seem to be at the Refinery,
the first half of the game) but they are worth it. Each upgrade increases
your hull strength by 20 points. This significantly increases the amount
of damage you can take. With just 3 upgrades, you’re about as strong as a
tank, and with 5 upgrades you’re almost invincible for any mission.
Radoff - Each of these "spray" upgrades increases your radiation resistance
by 20. This reduces the rate your shields degrade when subjected to
radiation.
3 ECONOMICS - making money to survive
3a PROSPECTING - money for free
You can make a good amount of money scrounging the sea floor for debris
from the world above. In fact, you’ll probably need to spend time between
missions prospecting for raw materials to earn enough money to buy upgrades
and repairs for your sub. Sub Culture remembers the environment even when
you enter a city; so if you remember seeing some bottle caps and cigarette
butts somewhere, you can go back later and they should still be there.
To be a successful prospector, you’ll have to have the right tools for the
job. With the right tools, you can haul the raw materials to a drop point
found in every city. (The drop point looks like a round, black landing
pad.) Once you’ve dropped off your material, you’ll have to enter the city
for it to be transferred to your cargo hull. Although there’s no limit to
the number of things you can carry in your hull, you shouldn’t wait to
accumulate more than a dozen of any particular item. If you do, plan on
selling on part of your cargo at a time at different cities.
Dropping your find at a city doesn’t mean you have to sell it there. The
most efficient strategy is to drop your find off at the nearest city, land
at the city (so the item is transferred to your hold), and then go sell it
at the highest paying city next time your are in the vicinity.
Another tip: The weight of the object you pick up will be enough to drag
your sub to the floor, so don’t fight it if you don’t have to. When
hauling coins, crystals, and cigarettes, try to hug the ocean floor; you
will be able to go faster that way (works best in flat areas).
Coins and bottle caps
Pennies and bottle caps can be found on the ocean floor and sold for their
copper and metal materials. You’ll need a magnet to pick these things up.
Steer your boat right over the metal object and lower yourself almost
touching it. Then release your magnet and it should attach itself to the
object. The coins and bottle caps aren’t very streamlined and are quite
heavy relative to your sub so expect them to drag you down as you haul them
to the nearest city. You’ll make the most money selling copper, metal,
thorium, and cigarette butts at the Refinery of the Brothers. While you’re
at the Refinery, you might as well buy processed thorium and then sell it
at a Procha or Bohine city for about a 200/unit profit.
Pearls
Oysters make pearls, but not every oyster will have a pearl ready made.
The round beauties bring a nice price, especially at Beluga Basin.
Whenever you see an oyster shell open, it probably has a pearl. To obtain
the pearl, you’ll have to have a suck-o-matic. Drive your boat just above
the shell and lower yourself to an altitude just above where the oyster
gets scared and closes the shell. (He’ll open it back up if you move
away.) Turn on your suck-o-matic and the pearl will gently be lifted out
of the shell and into your suck-o-matic. It may help to activate the
bottom view camera so you can see how you are lined up.
There are a total of 6 oysters in the game. You can find the oysters: east
of the tin can, west of Tryton, west of the Refinery, near the rock arch,
NNE of Velcova, and north of Touka.
Cigarette butts
These ugly things will eventually bring thoughts of money whenever you see
them. Although the manual says that they’re illegal in most cities, this
means nothing in the game. You can sell them wherever you want, and they
bring in good money too. To pick them up, you’ll need a grappling hook.
With the hook, pick the up the same way you pick up coins and bottle caps
with the magnet. The best prices for Tobacco tend to be found at the
Refinery.
Thorium crystals
Thorium crystals are yellow, radioactive crystals. They even glow with
enough light to see in the dark (at night or in caves) within the crystal’s
vicinity. Be warned though, getting too close to these crystals will
subject your sub to the crystal’s radiation, which will slowly break down
your shields. A radoff (see equipment) protected hull will be less
affected by the deadly radiation.
There are two ways to harvest the thorium crystals. You can blow them
apart with any of your weapons and then suck up the pieces (3) with your
suck-o-matic, or you can haul the entire crystal with a grappling hook.
The former method is less dangerous as the shards do not give off enough
radiation to harm you, but this only gives you three units to sell. In rare
instances, blowing apart the Thorium crystal will only yield 2 shards
instead of 3. Hauling the entire crystal is more dangerous because you are
subjected to its radiation the entire time you are dragging it along, but
once you’ve dropped it off you will receive four units of raw thorium; 33%
more than blowing it apart and collecting the shards. That 33% extra
earlier in the game can bring you enough money to buy a shield repair or a
pack of 16 missiles. This also makes radoff pay for itself.
There are two thorium caches which can make you money fast: in the cave at
the bottom of the Abyss, and in the caves south east of Touka. Each of
these locations have at least 3 crystals for you to harvest.
3b TRADING - being the middle man
Although there are several items available for trade, there are really only
a few lucrative items/routes to trade. The numbers constantly change but
relative to other cities the prices basically normalize to the same values.
This means that an object route that is profitable will continue to be
profitable even if absolute prices change; if a price goes up in your buy
city, it will also go up in the sell city.
Despite what seems to be a complex and interesting trading economy, you
will discover that the best thing to do is: sell all prospected thorium,
metal, copper, and tobacco at the refinery; buy refined thorium at the
refinery when you are going to other cities; and sell all pearls at Beluga.
All other trades either don’t bring enough money and aren’t worth the trip,
make you lose money, or the market for that item becomes saturated so
quickly that you won’t be able to sell more than a few of them at a time
before the price falls way below your cost. The following prices will
change, but they are provided here for relative comparisons. This data was
taken at the beginning of the game. Trade Table (sell/buy):
Item: Beluga: Refinery: Touka: Tryton: Velcova:
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Thorium -/200 -/753 -/180 -/250 -/225
Refined thorium 2060/1450 1000/- 2116/1262 2150/1194 2170/1206
Metal -/120 -/817 -/300 -/480 -/409
Processed metal -/- 1200/- 1700/- 2860/1272 2546/1310
Pearls -/3806 -/- -/2385 -/- -/2410
Copper -/700 -/1031 -/750 -/- -/330
Treated Copper 2590/1750 1480/- 2413/1704 2142/1530 -/-
Oxygen -/280 -/247 930/245 -/- 210/107
Purified Water 500/214 -/263 180/- 581/281 550/223
Sea Weed 700/- 1923/847 -/764 -/901 -/891
Kelp Beer 400/- 1450/531 696/449 -/466 995/499
Plankton 80/- -/150 237/101 -/150 305/132
Caviar 2907/1500 -/- -/- 2947/1433 1400/-
Medical Sup. -/907 -/890 1500/845 1452/836 810/-
Methane 250/122 678/163 110/- -/167 -/137
Tobacco 4120/2236 -/2379 2100/1050 -/2388 5931/2356
Rubber -/741 1094/703 1005/701 650/- 980/671
Cod Oil 676/471 885/485 734/451 410/- 794/441
Lionfish Venom -/5783 13171/5578 -/4635 5200/- -/-
4 POLITICAL FACTIONS
Bohine - The laid back, democratic Bohine society embraces the rights of
the individual. Supposedly their laid back attitude has resulted in slums
and shoddy workmanship, but you’ll never be exposed to any slums and
products you buy at Bohine cities won’t have any problems with them.
Prices tend to be more expensive, especially at Beluga Basin. Bohine hate
the uptight Procha with a passion. The latest rock music from the hottest
Bohine bands is piped throughout the Bohine cities.
Procha - The Procha are an imperialistic society, complete with a big-
brother type emperor who will control organizations like the media when
things appear to begin to rebel against the emperor’s rule. They have
tight security and really don’t like the Bohine. However, people can only
be suppressed for so long before uprisings occur… In any event, the Procha
seem to be more efficient at manufacturing so equipment tends to be
slightly cheaper than Bohine cities. Tryton Institute seems to be the
place where development of all the new gadgets takes place since the newest
coolest stuff tends to appear at their marketplaces first. When visiting,
expect to hear instrumental techno music as this is probably the only music
that made it past government censors.
Brotherhood, the - Kind of like a monasterial cult, the brotherhood own
only the Refinery (located on the north east corner of the map). They are
pretty much neutral to everybody and are only concerned with the processing
of raw materials. They apparently also like to smoke tobacco. Expect to
hear mysterious, industrial music when visiting the Brotherhood’s refinery.
Pirates - Everyone hates these guys because they hate everyone, including
you. They’re a menace to every society. You should kill or avoid these
guys at first sight because any encounter with them will sure to be a
violent confrontation. They have no city or base you can land at.
5 THE MISSIONS - [Warning: SPOILER!]
The missions can be encountered in different order, or skipped all together
so I’ve listed the mission alphabetically by title. Following the title
I’ve listed in parenthesis: who you get the mission from, what equipment is
necessary to complete the mission, and what equipment I recommend to help
you in the mission. Remember, during a mission you can’t save your game,
and a mission will not be over until you succeed or fail. This means that
you can make several stops in cities to repair, rearm, and reconfigure your
boat in the middle of missions as often as you like.
Allied Sub in Distress (both; need: magnet) - The downed ship is east of
the metal artifact on the southern part of the map. It’s actually a pirate
trap; the ship is a bomb. But pick it up anyway. You won’t be able to
make your magnet release because it’s been jammed by the Pirates. Go to a
nearby mine and make the mine blow up on top of your magnet to force it to
release the bomb sub. Drive far away from the bomb. (Using the mine on
the ship/bomb will have no effect, in fact, the pirate voice will just
laugh at you.)
Aquatraz (both; recommend: ripper) - The pirates have taken over Aquatraz
and have turned it into a military installation complete with big guns and
an electric field perimeter to protect it. Bohine and Procha will disable
the field using Brotherhood technology, just be patient. When the field
goes down, head towards Aquatraz and kill any ground turrets. Don’t worry
about killing pirate subs because an endless supply of them will keep
launching out of Aquatraz. Keep moving at all times because the spinning
Aquatraz with cannons will constantly be shooting white ball projectiles at
you. After all the turrets are destroyed, choose an Aquatraz gun and
follow it shooting it with your zapper. Your sub should be able to just go
fast enough to keep up with the spinning (counter clockwise looking down).
Continue killing all guns. When only three guns are left, Aquatraz will
spin at double the rate. Turn around an drive the other way (clockwise)
and switch to a more powerful weapon (like the ripper) and shoot the guns
as they pass you until they are all dead. After destroying Aquatraz, the
protective field will go down and the Bohine and Procha subs will enter to
help clear the area of remaining pirate subs.
Attack Pirate Stockpile (Procha; need: radoff; recommend: whoosh drive) -
Head into the south pipe, destroying any pirates you encounter along the
way. Descend into the pipe and head down the main pipe. If you encounter
bars blocking your path, go the other way. You should encounter a large
fan. If you’ll notice, there is a big black button on the left side of the
wall. Every time this button is pressed (with your sub) the fan will
reverse directions; the blades move slowly as it reverses. Make sure that
the fan is turning full speed to SUCK you into it, then press the black
button and as the blades are reversing, drive under the fan. There is a
pirate base here. Destroy the pirate fishbots, 2 gun turrets on the
ground, and one gun turret on the ceiling. Then destroy the base itself.
Since the fan is blowing outwards, you should be able to slip through. If
for some reason the fan is still blowing inwards, use your whoosh drive and
slip past the side of the fan.
Bohine Forces: Covert Operation (Bohine; need: big ears, charge launcher,
and at least 20 depth charges) - Go hide in the metal cave (brown metal,
half buried pipe) north of Beluga. Once there, wait for a blue radar blip
to pass you (it should have green targeting squares around it in the main
view). Just as it passes you, go out and fire a big ear onto him. If you
successfully hit it with a big ear, you’ll immediately hear Procha
transmissions. Go back to the metal cave immediately. Wait for the Bohine
to tell you to go to the secret base south of Beluga. South east of Beluga
is the narrow entrance to the flats. Continue west along the south bank
until you hit the west bank. Get your depth charges ready. Head north.
There will be 3 vents in a north-south row and the Procha base just east of
them. The base will shoot torpedoes at you constantly so keep moving. You
have to keep dropping depth charges into the vents when they open. All
three vents must be destroyed in order to destroy the base. Each time a
vent is destroyed, the base will say, "Oh no! We’ve lost power!" and the
vent will stay closed.
Bomb Disposal (Bohine; need: magnet, whoosh drive) - Another sabotaged
ModelT! Go to the Abyss and then head south. You’ll see a downed ModelT
with three green warhead-looking bombs next to it. Attach to one with the
magnet and whoosh drive ABOVE the abyss. Release the bomb and whoosh drive
back. WAIT for the computer to tell you the bomb will go off in 5 seconds.
It will explode, sending concussions to knock you around a bit but you’ll
be all right. Magnet the next bomb, farthest away from the abyss and
whoosh it over to the abyss and drop it ABOVE the abyss, whoosh back and
wait for it to explode again. This last one is different. Magnet it and
whoosh it over to the Abyss. Release it ABOVE the Abyss again, but make
sure you are high enough that you can drive straight to get away. As soon
as you release, you MUST WHOOSH DRIVE away (towards the ModelT is good)
because the last one will not give you a 5 second delay. If you are still
above the Abyss when it goes off you will die immediately.
CIC: Covert Operations (Procha; need: big ears) - The Bohine are up to
something. Go to Touka and when you find an orange blip on your radar
which is also targeted with the green targeting square in your forward
view, follow him and attach a big ear device on him. Once you successfully
attach the device, you should hear their radio communications. Stay put
and you’ll learn that the Bohine are getting ready for an attack. The
Bohine are at the rib cage (actually just west of it). The Procha will
tell you to take care of the Bohine. Head over to the rib cage and head
west. Destroy all 3 Bohine sub escorts, then take out the large Bohine
sub.
CIC: Recon (Procha; need: ROV) - Go to Touka Reef. Enter the cave to the
east. When you encounter the first fork in the cave, turn your boat around
and send your ROV down the left cave. Drive your ROV further down, behind
a plant and you should come to an small open area. Don't lose your ROV; if
the screen starts having static, switch ("r") back to your sub, follow
where your ROV went until the static goes away, then switch back to the ROV
and continue. Your ROV should encounter a Bohine base complete with Bohine
sub, buildings and gun turrets. Push CTRL to start the recording. Drive
the ROV around looking at everything while "REC" is on. When the Procha
message says "that's enough, get out of there!" drive your ROV back to your
ship as fast as possible. You should have left your sub pointing away from
the ROV so as you drive the ROV up it should be positioned behind your sub
for docking. When the ship computer says "dock ROV?" say yes and WAIT
until your ROV docks; you will automatically regain control. Hopefully the
ROV isn't destroyed by Bohine subs. Now get out of there, kill the Bohine
hostiles, an go collect your reward.
Covert Operations: Defection (Bohine; need: escape pod) - A new type of
Procha sub is disabled near the Refinery. Go to the Refinery and go just
north west of it. You’ll see a blue blip on your radar, that’s them. Go
attach your escape pod "full of fuel and with the tracking device" to them.
After the transfer, detach and lead the ship, hugging the north walls.
You’ll immediately be attacked by Procha subs, one with an escape pod; so
kill them. Lead them along a path south west towards Beluga and completely
avoid Tryton and Velcova (go between them). The ship will travel a
straight line from where it’s current position is to where your ship is, so
make sure there’s nothing dangerous between you two. At around the metal
cave, you’ll be attacked again by Prochas, one with another escape pod.
Dispose of them. Continue leading the defector’s ship to Beluga.
Defend Fishing Grounds (Procha; need: attractatron) - The bone rib cage has
a few schools of little fish. There will be a couple Bohine subs that get
mad at you but they should be easily taken out. Use the attractatron to
lure fish to the fishing boat by turning on the attractatron, driving near
the fish, and enticing them with the tail of your sub. Once attracted, go
slowly (short bursts of forward thrust) to the fishing boat. Lead the fish
into the beam of light, and they will be sucked up. You’ll have get a
certain number of fish. It took me almost five schools of fish to complete
the fishing mission. Some schools of fish may have wandered from the rib
cage, so if you don’t see anymore fish, try the perimeters of the rib cage.
Escort Diplomats (both; recommend: whoosh drive) - Meet up with the Bohine
diplomat sub at Touka and follow it. Just as you pass the rib cage, your
sub will suddenly become disabled and fall to the ocean floor sideways.
Don’t panic, your ship computer will fix the computer with some time.
However, by this time, the diplomats will have passed Beluga and be
captured by a pirate battleship at the metal cave, north of Beluga. When
you regain control, whoosh to the metal cave area. You’ll encounter a
pirate sub along the way; you can kill him. Continue and you should see
the diplomat sub being held captive inside the tail of the pirate
battleship. Destroy the top and bottom gun turrets and the diplomats will
be freed. You’ll see a cut scene; either Procha News or Bohine TV,
depending upon which side you took the mission from.
Escort Prison Sub (Bohine) - Accept this mission from Touka. As you leave
Touka, meet up with the transport and just follow the flow ship to
Aquatraz. Some Procha subs from Velcova will try to attack. Concentrate
your fire on the sub using the escape pod. Once he’s destroyed, you can
kill the escorts. BUG ALERT! The game may dump you back to windows
without the patch available at the Ubisoft Sub Culture web site. Go to
http://www.ubisoft.com.
Genocide Weapon (both; need: magnet) - This is your first encounter with a
walker. North of the bone rib cage is the testing ground. Several subs
will be with the walker, so kill them first if they’re hostile.
Concentrate all your shots at the legs of the walker, but do not shoot it's
head. Stay low and blast at the legs. Eventually, the legs will blow up
and the head will be left to float to the bottom. Use your magnet to
capture it, and tow it to Touka Reef. You’ll see a cut scene; either
Procha News or Bohine TV, depending upon which side you took the mission
from.
Kill Bohine Queen Jellyfish (Procha; need: repellertron; recommend: FLR-
1000 or 1500) - Go to the cave east of Touka. A Bohine sub will be guarding
the entrance to the cave so kill him. Turn on your repellertron to keep
the baby jellyfish away. Use your flares to illuminate the cave. You can
kill the baby jellyfish and pods if you want. Go right at the fork and
follow the left wall till you get to the opening. You'll see 3 Bohine subs
chained to the mother jellyfish. The mother will get pissed and kill the
Bohine subs as she tries to get to you, but your repellertron will keep her
away. Blast her till she dies.
Mutant Eel Attack (Bohine; need: escape pod; recommend: repellertron) - A
huge eel has supposedly disabled a mining station. Go to the south end
where the metal artifact is (the tin can) and head east. You’ll see the
smoking mining station and a small, puny little yellow eel will be
targeted. Your ship’s computer will comment sarcastically that it’s such a
big eel. Turn on your repellertron and kill the eel. Go back to the
mining station and the miners will scream, "look out! The eel has
returned! It’s right behind you!" Keep that repellertron on and turn
around. You’ll see a HUGE eel and he will look mean. Kill him. Attach
the escape pod to the mining station to get the trapped miners, and head
back to Beluga.
Mutant Fish Attack (Procha; recommend: strong hull and good weapons) -
Mutant jelly fish are attacking Tryton Institute with their electric
shocks. Make sure you have a nice tough hull because what you’re about to
face are very fast and are not friendly. Travel to Tryton and you’ll see
them attacking the city. Try to lure just a few at a time away from the
city to take ‘em out in smaller numbers.
Neutralize Nuclear Stockpile (both; need: whoosh drive, radoff; recommend:
suck-o-matic, or magnet) - Go to the abyss (east of Beluga) and descend
into it. 3 Bohine subs will be there to meet you. Turn on your lights,
and get your whoosh drive ready. As you enter the cave, you’ll encounter 2
pirates one at a time down the tunnel. Kill them. There are two more
pirates inside the cavern, one on the right and one on the left. Kill
them, but don’t destroy the nuclear canisters. Once the threats are gone,
you can get the thorium crystals to the left (as you entered the cavern).
Get familiar with the cavern; you’ll have a limited time to get out once
you blow a canister. I will describe the location of the canisters from
the perspective of entering the cavern from the tunnel entrance: 3
canisters are in the far left-forward corner, 1 canister is on the right-
forward side, and 2 canisters are in the corner directly right of the
entrance. I recommend shooting them in that order. Practice the run
before destroying them so you know the optimum path, then go for it using
your whoosh drive anytime you’re going straight. Use the whoosh drive when
exiting the narrow tunnel as well, don’t worry about the damage from
bumping into walls, you need the time. If you make it out, you’ll see the
Bohine blow the cave entrance shut. If you don’t make it out, you’ll be
sealed in and remembered as a hero, and your game will have to be reloaded.
As an alternative solution, you can use the magnet to drag all the
canisters to one spot, destroy them all at once, and get out of the cave.
Project Armageddon (both; need: magnet, whoosh drive, ROV) - This is the
most difficult mission of all. Make sure you accept this mission from
Beluga Basin because it’s the closest to where you’ll need to go and
strategically it’s the best place. Don’t pick up the bomb. Go to the pipe
north of Beluga. There should be 4 pirates and 2 Bohine and 2 Procha.
They’ll start fighting and 1 pirate will go after you and 1 will go after
the bomb. Kill these two first. Go back and get the bomb with the magnet.
Bring it into the pipe. Face south as you descend the pipe, a pirate will
immediately attack you. Destroy the pirate and then detach the bomb and go
north. Pass under the fan robot and destroy his yellow power pack behind
him. Continue north and kill the 1 pirate from the left tunnel, then the 1
pirate and 2 fishbots further north. Get the bomb again and go north back
to the west (left) tunnel (it should be square). As it turns and goes
south, you will encounter 2 pirates one at a time. Kill ‘em. The tunnel
will turn west again and descending from a ceiling passage is a fishbot and
a pirate. Kill ‘em. You will approach a circular room. Don’t leave the
tunnel just yet. Kill 2 pirates and a fishbot. The last two white blips
on your radar are pirates in a room above you. Release the bomb in the
tunnel near the entrance to the circle room. In the circle room is the
pointed hatch door. The 2 pirates may descend into your room. Kill them
if they do. Where you just entered the room, if you face the pointy hatch,
another tunnel will be to your right. Enter this tunnel and go up when you
can. Watch out for the fishbot. Turn around and enter the room above the
hatch room. In the distance, you’ll see a pirate base. If there are any
pirates, kill them. Left of the entrance is a black button. Deploy the
ROV to continuously push this button. Leave the ROV and return to get the
bomb. The hatch should be open, if it isn’t make sure your ROV is pushing
the black button. Switch to external view and bring the bomb over the
hatch. Face the exit and let the bomb go limp on the chain, but DO NOT
RELEASE IT YET. Now get ready. Release the bomb and immediately switch to
whoosh drive and get out of there as fast as possible. You have to make it
back to the main pipe area (where the fan robot was) in time to win.
That’s it! You’ve finished Sub Culture! Fun game but lame ending, huh?
Prospectors Wanted! (both; need: suck-o-matic or grappling hook) - This
mission is really just to introduce you to the game. Take either a suck-o-
matic or a grappling hook (you’ll have to buy the latter) and go prospect
for some thorium crystals. Bring them to the Refinery, sell them, and then
buy as much refined Thorium as you can. Then go back to the city which you
started the mission at and sell the refined thorium. Grappling the thorium
will bring in one extra unit of raw thorium.
Protect Beluga Trawlers (Bohine; need: attractatron) - This fishing mission
is harder than the corresponding Procha fishing mission. Go north of
Beluga and meet up with 3 Bohine trawlers. There will also be 2 Procha
subs who get mad at you for "fishing in their waters"; kill them. Turn on
your attractatron and go near the fish, then turn your tail towards the
fish. They should become interested and follow you. Go very slow, (move
forward only by tapping your forward thruster), because the fish are easily
lost. Lead the fish into the spotlights of one of the trawlers and the
fish should be sucked into the ship. As each ship gets full, the trawler
will leave and head back for Beluga. After the last trawler is full and
returns to Beluga, go to Beluga as quick as you can because more Procha
subs will be attacking them.
Rampaging Attack Walker (both) - The pirates are attacking with a walker
unit. Go to the flats (enter the flats via a narrow strip just south east
of Beluga. Bohine and Procha ships will be laying mines and attacking the
walker, but they’ll all die way before you can destroy the walker. Just
keep shooting the walker with your weapon of choice until it dies. It may
take awhile.
Rescue Bacau Shuttle (Bohine; need: magnet) - Go to northeast of Velcova to
the volcano and you’ll find a downed blue-green sub. Pick it up with the
magnet. It looks like a Procha sub, and it really is, even though the
Bohine claimed it belonged to them. 2 Procha subs will be watching over
the downed sub and they will tell you to drop it off at Velcova. If you
pass Velcova with the sub, the Procha subs will first say, "hey, this isn’t
the way to Velcova." They’ll eventually say, "don’t be fooled, the Bohine
are lying! Does it LOOK like a Bohine sub?" You have a choice: you can
either change your mission and drop it off at Velcova (for good favor with
the Procha) or bring it to Touka (get attacked by the Procha subs and gain
favor with the Bohine). Either way, the sub really was a Procha sub.
Rescue Minelayers (Bohine; need: ROV, escape pod, torpedoes or ripper) - Go
to the cave west of Tryton. Keep taking the right forks in the cave (two
of them) till you see a mine. Destroy the NEAREST mine only. Move closer
to the next mines but not so close that you will be damaged by the blast.
Get your long range weapon ready (missile or ripper), and get the escape
pod ready. Deploy your ROV, and send it under and to the right side of the
mines to slip past them. You should see the downed minelayer sub to the
left. Use the ROV to push the sub far away from the mines. They should
say they are far enough away about where the cave colors get bright in one
spot. Even so, push them a little farther but don’t take too much time to
do this. It’s a hill so the disabled ship will have a tendency to fall
back down to the mines. ROV push them and then immediately switch to your
ship (push ‘r’) and shoot the brown mines. When the only mines that are
left are the silver, robot looking mines, stop shooting; those can’t be
destroyed. Immediately drive under all the mines and attach your escape
pod to the minelayer. If you did everything in time, they will be able to
get on board. Detach your pod before the minelayer blows up. Go get your
ROV and leave the cave the same way you came in and get to a Bohine city.
Research Project: Mutant Fish (Procha: Tryton Institute; need: magnet,
repellertron; recommend: radoff of at least 60, grappling hook) - Mount the
grappling hook. Go to the bone rib cage and look for a blue radar blip;
this is the tagged mutant fish. Turn on your repellertron so he doesn’t
attack you, and just try and keep up with him. He’ll run all over the
place and he’s fast, so don’t lose him. If you aren’t close enough to him
when he goes to Touka, he’ll do his rounds again. At Touka, he’ll go into
the cave east of Touka. Follow him fearlessly (your repellertron will
protect you) until you reach the obvious breeding ground. There should be
a metal radioactive canister in the cave and several thorium crystals (if
you didn’t pick them up before). Remember the crystals; you can come back
after the mission and use the grappling hook to haul the crystals to Touka
for a great profit. Use the magnet and haul the canister to Tryton. BUG
ALERT! There seems to be a bug in the Direct3D version of the game. For
some reason the canister will not be there when you get to the breeding
ground and you won’t be able to complete the mission. This bug does not
occur in the software version of the game. You can complete this mission
in the software version, and then go back to the D3D version to continue
with your game. I was told, but could not confirm, that the D3D version
can be completed by searching all of the rest of the cave, and then the
canister will show up.
Retrieve Hijacked Filters (both; need: magnet; recommend: electro bolt) -
This is the longest mission next to the last mission. Go to the cave east
of Touka Reef and kill any pirates (follow all right forks). Get the Water
Filter device with the magnet and drop it off at Touka. You should be told
to go to the caves west of Tryton Institute. Go there, kill a walker at
the cave entrance and a walker inside the cave next to the filter (again,
follow all right forks in the cave). Using the electro bolt gun makes it
easy to kill them. Magnet the filter to Tryton. Next place is the Abyss,
east of Beluga. Kill 3 pirates in the Abyss and magnet the filter to
Beluga. Last filter is at Aquatraz, protected by several pirates and a
pirate battleship. Destroy both top and bottom turrets on the battleship
to kill it. Haul filter to Velcova.
Save Procha Prisoners (Procha; need: escape pod) - A prison transport ship
is leaving Touka Reef and is heading towards Aquatraz. Head towards Touka
and you should see one orange radar blip being escorted by 3 or 4 other
orange blips. As you approach, only one or two of the escorts will attack
you so kill them first. Then kill the rest of the escorts (they will
attack as soon as you do). Once the escorts are taken care of, follow or
drive just above the transport sub and release your escape pod. It should
attach to the transport hull like a magnet. Just wait and don’t engage
your engines.
Student Sub Trapped in Mine (Procha; need: magnet) - Go to the cave west of
Tryton. Follow the cave to the west fork, blast the boulder blocking the
path, and go deep till you reach the downed sub. Tow it with the magnet
and get out of the cave. You will be attacked by several pirate subs. You
can release the disabled sub to fight the pirates if you want to, but it's
not necessary. After the pirates have been dealt with, tow the disabled
sub to Tryton.
Thwart Terrorists (Bohine; need: escape pod; recommend: ripper) - A ModelT
sub (looks like a large manta ray) has been hijacked. Accept this mission
at Touka. As you leave Touka heading north west, you should see the ModelT
heading towards the bone rib cage. The rib cage area is completely
littered with round mines. You’re going to have to destroy any mines that
the ModelT is going to run into. A ripper gun has the best range and hits
instantly, so I’d use the ripper to take out the mines in the sub’s path.
It will take 4 attempts for the marines to successfully take over the sub,
but don’t attach the escape pod just yet. Hug the top of the ModelT and
shoot any mines in its path. Then, just as the sub begins to leave the rib
cage (mine ridden) area, attach the escape pod at the TAIL. The marines
will take some time to enter, search, and discover it’s "blocked off",
reenter your pod, and tell you to reattach somewhere else. By this time,
the ModelT will have turned around and be heading right back into the
mines. Once the marines are in, detach your pod and shoot any mines in the
ModelT’s path. This time as it leaves the mine area, attach the pod on
either the left or right wing. Again, the marines are blocked. Repeat for
the other side. Again, failure. Now attach to the spine towards the front
of the ship immediately; don’t wait for the ship to clear the mine field.
As you wait, shoot the mines in the path again. The ModelT will be heading
straight for a Touka building. When the marines are successful, the ship
will veer away from the building and the mission will be completed.
Volcanic Disaster (Procha; need: charge launcher) - The undersea volcano
north east of Velcova has started to erupt, threatening the safety of the
city. The scientists have determined that dropping depth charges will
block the volcano and calm it down. Whatever. Go to the volcano and time
your passes over the volcano between eruptions. Watch out, the eruptions
are like missile hits on you. Try to stay at the lowest altitude you can
above the volcano mouth. It might help to pause a moment as you drop the
depth charge so it won’t have any momentum from your sub. Eventually with
enough hits, you’ll be told that "it’s almost done" and a few more hits
will complete the mission.
6 TIPS AND TRICKS
6a COOL (OR STUPID) THINGS TO DO
- There is a tiny hole in the ocean floor north east of the metal cave,
barely big enough for your sub, that you can descend into. It opens up to
a small room like cave. Nothing is in it though.
- In the Abyss is a cave (which you’ll later do a mission in). Enter it,
go down the narrow tunnel, and turn left, hugging the wall on your left.
You should come to several thorium crystals. Use your suck-o-matic,
though, because they are too big to fit through the narrow tunnel.
- There are pearls in the pipe next to the refinery. If you use your
missiles, the concussion waves from the missile’s explosion can knock the
pearls out for you to collect.
- There are three coins inside the tin can
- You can go inside the boot. Nothing interesting inside it though.
- The tiny crabs are impervious to your zapper, even though they don’t like
it.
- The oysters will close if you get too close, but will open as soon as you
leave.
- Blow up the boulders.
- Use the shock waves from your torpedoes to move things around.
- Shoot fish and watch them blow up into several meaty, bloody chunks.
- Attractatron schools of fish then blow them up. Try all different
weapons.
- In the underground pipelines, you can sometimes slip past the impassable
grate bars by driving right between them, and letting yourself get
attacked. This sometimes results in you being pushed beyond the grate,
where the world was never defined.
6b COOL (OR STUPID) THINGS TO SEE
- Watch big fish hunt smaller fish.
- Sometimes mutant fish fight each other with their zappers.
- Look at the turtles and rays from all angles.
- Drive under the city towers.
- Go to outside view and try backing your sub into a corner to see inside
your cockpit.
- Try looking inside the ground vehicles and subs of the wandering
citizens.
- Try looking inside the pirate battleships when you encounter them.
- Look at the sun’s lens flare from several angles.
6C CHEATS [Big Spoiler!]
I really don’t recommend you use any of these cheats until you have
completed the game. To use a cheat, type the word while you are in your sub
in the water. You must type it quickly for it to register.
kamikaze: self destruct your sub
tonka: increase hull strength
refill: repair shields
mutant: increase radoff level
billy: speed up
tick: add geiger counter
rinse: go to stage 0
dryer: go to stage 1
cotton: go to stage 2
delicates: go to stage 3
tumble: go to stage 4
colours: go to stage 5
halfload: go to stage 6
didit: mission success
bedlk: god mode on
haveall: enable access to all missions
havesome: enable access to all missions
scotty: beam yourself to Touka Reef
wonga: give 1,000,000 credits (maximum)
imnotluc: ???